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Letter: Robo call is wrong on county budget plan

Editor: I recently received an automated political advertisement call from Adam Guillette sponsored by the St. Johns Family PAC.

The call was full of inaccuracies/erroneous facts suggesting our Board of County Commissioners and administration are "spendthrifts."

The tenet of this political call was that our commissioners are financially irresponsible and were out of control since the year 2000. Where has Guillette lived since 2006? It was in 2006 the citizen's voted Tom Manuel and Ron Sanchez onto the County Commission and along with Commissioner Ben Rich, they took control of the budget process. They started shaving money off the budget by a variety of actions including trimming personnel, implementing a hiring chill, reviewing contracts etc. These actions started downsizing the county budget and if it weren't for the budgeting policies begun in fiscal 2008, our county would be in a lot more financial trouble.

Budgeting for fiscal year 2007 was the responsibility of the group of commissioners in office prior to the November 2006 election. Prior to 2006 that commission was essentially out of control -- approving the present $16 million "Taj Mahal" administration building, the Equestrian Center and numerous other fiscally irresponsible financial decisions and they never acted on the need for a new 800-MHz radio system. Don't blame the new guys for this inaction.

Since Fiscal year 2008, the county budget has been reduced, with cuts of $26 million, $53 million, $43 and $35 million over the past 4 years. The suggested tax increase for 2012 results from present economic woes and the administration is acting on services they believe citizens want. There are areas to cut, but will those cuts be supported by the majority?

Let's get the facts right.

Based on what I know, condemning present County Commission politicians for things they didn't do cannot be justified.